Numerical Evidence that the Motion of Pluto is Chaotic

The Digital Orrery has been used to perform an integration of the motion of the outer planets for 845 million years. This integration indicates that the long-term motion of the planet Pluto is chaotic. Nearby trajectories diverge exponentially with an e-folding time of only about 20 million ye...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sussman, Gerald Jay, Wisdom, Jack
Language:en_US
Published: 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6038
Description
Summary:The Digital Orrery has been used to perform an integration of the motion of the outer planets for 845 million years. This integration indicates that the long-term motion of the planet Pluto is chaotic. Nearby trajectories diverge exponentially with an e-folding time of only about 20 million years.